Suspects recycled in Politkovskaya case

Russia's Investigative Committee has named the
main suspects in the October 7, 2006,
murder of Anna Politkovskaya. But the news did not cause a stir. Russian
journalists reacted to it rather languidly; for instance, Novaya Gazeta, where
Politkovskaya worked, did not make any notable comments.

This is not because Politkovskaya's murder--now
five years old--has been forgotten in Russia. The tepid interest is mostly due
to the fact that there are no new names among the suspects.

All these names became well known during the
first trial over Politkovskaya's murder. Back in February
2009, a jury acquitted three defendants--Khadzhikurbanov and two Makhmudov
brothers, Ibragim and Dzhabrail. (Rustam Makhmudov, whom the investigation
considers the gunman, was sought on an international warrant and was not in the
dock.) Gaitukayev, whom the investigation has now named an organizer of the
slaying, was considered a witness for the prosecution at the time. Khadzhikurbanov,
the third defendant in the 2009 trial, is also considered an organizer of the
slaying. Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhudov's charges--accomplices in the
killing--remain the same as two years ago.

All of the suspects have denied all charges
against them, except for retired Lt. Col. Pavlyuchenkov, who has entered into
plea negotiations.

Pavlyuchenkov's alleged role in the murder has
changed several times since the first Politkovskaya murder investigation.
Initially, Pavlyuchenkov was considered a witness in the case; then, he was
declared an organizer of the slaying. Back in August, the Investigative
Committee announced that it was Pavlyuchenkov who received money (from an
unknown party) for Politkovskaya's murder, and it was Pavlyuchenkov who
distributed the "logistical tasks" of the crime among the members of the gang he
allegedly formed for the purpose. Now, however, Pavlyuchenkov is no longer
considered an organizer but an accomplice in the murder, who reportedly abused the powers of his office
(as head of surveillance at the Interior Ministry) when ordering the tracking
of Politkovskaya's moves.

After a jury acquitted all defendants in 2009,
the verdict was overturned by Russia's Supreme Court, but a new trial was not
scheduled. It became evident that two years had not been enough for the
Investigative Committee to solve the crime. They failed to unravel the chain of
mastermind-organizer-accomplices-gunman. By returning the case to investigators
for further work, the Supreme Court confirmed this.

Why was such a half-baked case allowed to go
to court at all?

Novaya Gazeta Deputy Editor Sergey Sokolov
says it was because, with the second anniversary of Politkovskaya's killing
approaching, "investigators were hastened to deliver results." A contributing
factor was the prosecution's tendency to win in Russian courts. The number of
acquittals issued in Russia is negligible -- statistics show that acquittals
nowadays are fewer than in Stalin's time. However poorly an investigation may
be conducted, the judge, as a rule, would side with the prosecution. Also, the
professionalism of investigators tasked with probing high-profile contract
killings falls short. This was particularly clear in Politkovskaya's case.

Vyacheslav Izmailov, a special Novaya Gazeta
correspondent who has covered the North Caucasus for many years, recalls his
interactions with the team of investigators conducting the initial
Politkovskaya murder probe. "They suggested that we, journalists, carry out
significant parts of the investigation," Izmailov says. "For instance Petros
Garibyan [who continues to head the Politkovskaya murder probe] offered that I
meet with Ramzan Kadyrov [the formidable Chechnya president whom Politkovskaya
criticized sharply]. Garibyan was asking that I find out what Kadyrov thought
about Politkovskaya's killing, what his version [of who murdered her] was."

Have investigators been successful in
buttressing their case with solid evidence this time around?

According to Anna Stavitskaya, lawyer for the
Politkovskaya family, progress has undoubtedly been made. "I have not yet
studied the materials of the investigation but having [suspected] organizers
under indictment can definitely be considered headway toward solving this
crime," Stavitskaya says.

Dzhabrail Makhmudov's lawyer, Murad Musayev,
told CPJ he does not believe investigators genuinely want to solve
Politkovskaya's killing. Rather, he says, they have only one goal--to prove
their version of events.

"My client has been charged with nothing new,"
Musayev told CPJ. "The only addition to the investigation is Pavlyuchenkov, who
is a totally controllable figure. In other words, he will be giving the kind of
testimony that investigators would need him to give."

"I am certain that he [Pavlyuchenkov] is
involved in this case," Musayev says. "During the first trial it was no secret
that he and his subordinates at the Operational Surveillance Department [one of
the most secretive branches of Russia's Interior Ministry] were the people who
organized Politkovskaya's murder. I am absolutely convinced that the killer,
too, is among the representatives of that department."

Novaya Gazeta's Sokolov, who heads the paper's
own journalistic investigation into Politkovskaya's killing, says the paper's
efforts this spring helped get on-the-record witness testimony about
Pavlyuchenkov's role in the crime, which led to his arrest.

Sokolov told CPJ that Pavlyuchenkov's
subordinates at the surveillance department are each now being investigated as
potential accomplices. Some of those subordinates, Sokolov says, have begun
testifying in exchange for being charged with less serious crimes, which would,
in turn, mitigate their prospective punishments.

"An entire mechanism of illegal, unsanctioned
surveillance of many persons [by officers of the Interior Ministry's
Operational Surveillance Department] has been revealed," Sokolov says. "They
received money to conduct foot surveillance for a fee of US$100 an hour."

Negotiating with suspects in order to receive
evidence that could strengthen the prosecution's case in exchange for mitigated
charges and sentences is an accepted--and absolutely legal--practice. This
practice, however, would not be worthwhile if it did not lead to the capture
and prosecution of the crime's mastermind.

While the second investigation into
Politkovskaya's murder may have strengthened the evidence against the suspected
immediate killers, it has demonstrated no progress toward identifying those who
bought and sent them to the journalist's doorstep. Moreover, when it comes to
the mastermind, the investigation is becoming more politicized.

Specifically, the names of the disgraced
oligarch Boris Berezovsky and persons from his alleged circle have been
floating around as potential benefactors of Politkovskaya's elimination. Among
Berezovsky's circle, according to authorities, are Chechen separatist leader Khozh-Akhmed
Nukhayev (who has been named the mastermind of Paul Klebnikov's
killing in 2004); former spy Aleksandr Litvinenko, who was
poisoned to death in London with radioactive polonium soon after Politkovskaya
was murdered; and exiled Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev.

The information that Zakayev and
Litvinenko are suspected of involvement in the killing of Politkovskaya was
first reported by the news agency Rosbalt on October 18. The Investigative
Committee has neither confirmed nor denied this information. The Rosbalt report
is based on the witness testimony of former security service officer and
current parliamentary deputy Andrei Lugovoi--the same Lugovoi whom Scotland Yard
has charged in Litvinenko's killing.

"Several days after Politkovskaya's murder,
[then] President Putin publicly announced his opinion that the masterminds are
malevolent oligarchs abroad," Sokolov says. "A day later, [Prosecutor General
Yuri] Chaika corroborated this. And right after them, a number of other people
swarmed the Investigative Committee to suggest that Berezovsky is to blame.
Lugovoi gave similar testimony at the very beginning of the investigation, but
that testimony was so abstruse that it was never included in the final
indictment."

Lawyer Musayev says the question of who
masterminded the murder of Anna Politkovskaya remains a "murky realm to me."
The culprits will become known only when "real accomplices like Pavlyuchenkov
are pressed to the wall," Musayev says, "and when they start giving truthful
information as opposed to testimony authorities want to hear."

Elena Milashina is an award-winning, investigative journalist with Novaya Gazeta and a Moscow correspondent for CPJ.